Box Score April 25, 2009
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Bronx, N.Y. - It was a high-scoring affair at Houlihan Park and though the Fordham baseball team out hit the University of Dayton, it was the Flyers who made the most of their base knocks as they defeated the Rams, 16-9.
Dayton did not waste time bringing home the runs after three runs in the second inning, two in the third and two in the fourth put the Rams in an early 7-0 hole.
Fordham had chances to keep pace with the Flyers, but would leave runners stranded in scoring position in three of the first four innings. It wasn't until the bottom of the fifth that the Rams brought two runs across the plate to make it a 7-2 ball game.
With Danny Leach on second and Bobby DiNardo on first, sophomore Chris Walker knocked a single down the right field line, scoring Leach for the Rams' first run of the game. Ryan McCrann's infield single allowed DiNardo to score from third to cap off the Fordham scoring in the inning.
The Flyers answered the two Rams' runs with seven of their own in the top of the sixth. Dayton got two of their runs on some wild Fordham pitching as both John Young and Daniel Munday brought in runs after issuing bases-loaded walks. Things didn't get much better when Zach Jacob stepped to the plate and smashed a grand slam to left-center field that was followed by an Aaron Dunsmore home run.
The Rams would not go away quietly as they scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth. With the bases loaded and no one out, Leach singled to left to bring home two runs. Walker's second hit of the game scored Brian Kownacki from second while Leach would score the final run in the inning on a wild pitch.
Fordham added another run in the bottom of the seventh to bring the score to 14-7 in Dayton's favor with John Kahn scoring on a single to left by Kownacki.
Dayton tacked on runs in the eighth and ninth innings to push their lead to 16-7 when, with Leach on base in the bottom of the ninth, DiNardo took the Chris Beesly offering over the left-field fence for his 12th home run of the season for the Rams' final two runs of the game.
Brando Casalicchio takes his third loss of the year after giving up five runs on six hits, two walks while striking out two in his 2.2 innings of work. Dayton starter Quinn Haselhorst went five complete innings, surrendering six runs on 11 hits, three walks and two strikeouts for the win while Beesley earns his first save of the year on his four innings of relief work.
Leach's 4-6 day pushed him past 200 career hits, making him just the 11th player in Fordham baseball history to accomplish this feat. Kownacki, Dinardo, Walker, and Mike Mobbs also had multi-hit games.
The Rams and the Flyers close out the three-game series with a 12:00 PM start on Sunday, April 26th. Please not that this is a time change as the game was originally scheduled for 1:00 PM.
Notes: Danny Leach's now has 203 career hits and is just one shy of breaking into the top 10 on the all-time hits list...Bobby DiNardo's home run not only puts him in a three-way tie for fourth place for single-season home runs with 12, but it also brings the senior to 25 for his career, good for a four-way tie for fifth all-time.
